Our Ingredients
Cultivating a supply of fermented and dried beans used in high quality chocolate requires long-term, trusting relationships with farmers and farming collectives. We have spent years collaborating with each of our bean suppliers for PRIDI Cacaofevier. In the early days, this meant buying cacao trees for farmers to experiment with and ensuring a sale once the beans were grown. This joint process has led to excellent partnerships and mutual learning.
These close and direct relationships allow us to pay well above market rates to our farmers to support their quality growing practices. In our approach, we have learned that happy trees make exceptional beans.
Cacao Beans
Thailand’s cocoa industry is in a very unique position. Unlike other regional and global competitors, cacao in Thailand is not grown in large plantations and rarely traded in markets. Sourcing fermented and dried beans needed for chocolate production requires trusting relationships to secure supply.
Cacao farmers in Thailand are mostly fruit farmers by trade, growing crops like durian, mango or mangosteen. Cacao trees intermingle amidst the plants and thrive in the shade of the big fruit trees. The result is astonishing. Not only are there fewer problems with pests and fungi in Thailand but the shared habitat also produces mind blowing fruit flavors in chocolates made from these ‘happy beans’.
Rich and unique cacao flavors are at the heart of our chocolates. Many of our bars contain only cacao beans and sugar, allowing us to highlight the terroirs of different bean origins and provinces.
At Pridi, we are big supporters of the current co-living spaces between cacao and other trees and are willing to pay our farmers enough to continue this unusual practice. In our approach we have learned that happy trees make exceptional beans!
Our relationships with farmers mean that we know exactly where our beans are coming from and how they are grown. The Pridi team regularly visits every one of our bean suppliers, and we work together to grow the best beans.
Sweeteners
We have experimented with a number of different sugars and sweeteners. What is important for us is to create a product that meets the highest professional standards for flavor and workability while also meeting our personal standards for sustainability and fair trade.
For our meilleur chocolate series we achieve the best results using white cane sugar. We also produce chocolates with other sugar sources like coconut sugar and palm sugar. These chocolates are part of our single origin series, which highlight the unique flavors of beans from different locations across Thailand.
Additional Ingredients
We keep our ingredients simple and identifiable. Unlike many commercial brands, our chocolate is free of emulsifiers like soy lecithin, vanilla or vanillin, cheaper cocoa butter alternatives, and stabilizers like glycerol.